An International Catholic Organisation has contracted a private DNA agency in Kenya to conduct paternity DNA Services to children who believe they were sired by Catholic priests.
On Saturday, the agency- DNA Testing Services, formerly known as CSI Nairobi launched a campaign asking mothers who have had children with priests to request for DNA tests.
Several cases of children, mothers and families accusing Catholic Priests of siring and abandoning children have been reported in Kenya, with some of them being taken to court.
Last week, in a blunt letter, Pope Francis acknowledged that the Catholic Church had failed to act over sexual abuse by clerics against minors going back decades.
“With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realising the magnitude of the damage done to so many lives,” the Pope wrote.
Director of DNA testing Services Kinyanjui Murigi said the agency in the next 30 days will receive requests that touch on priests. “The reports will be confidential but we will hand them to the Catholic Church and the Vatican, then they will decide on what to do,” he said.
